Angel On His Shoulder
by Medie
Summary: spin off from the 'Dreamscape' Alternate Universe. AU version of 'Abyss'. Danielle isn't leaving Jack to Ba'al's mercy. Or lack thereof.


Title: Angel On His Shoulder  
  
Author: M.  
  
Feedback: Sure!  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Characters: Jack O'Neill, Danielle Jackson (yep, you read right)  
  
Pairing: Jack/Danielle UST,  
  
Keywords: Alternate Universe, genderbender, ascended. AU for Abyss  
  
Spoilers: Abyss  
  
Series: Part of the dual Dreamscape AU. Eventually I will have seperate names for the Jack/Danielle AU (of which this is) and the Jonas/Danielle AU )Of which this isn't) I promise! *G*  
  
Disclaimers: Stargate? Not mine. Danielle? Well...sort of.  
  
Summary: Jack went and got himself captured, Danielle isn't about to let him stay there. Even if he throws footwear about...  
  
Author's Note: Some of the dialogue comes right out of the episode as the scenes needed to retain the basic shape of the episode. Have altered and added and taken away so, hopefully you will enjoy. This was written as a thank you for jaderyan357 who made pwetty Jack/Danielle and Jonas/Danielle icons for me! :-)  
  
"Angel On His Shoulder"  
  
by M.  
  
When Ba'al's Jaffa dragged Jack back down the hall, throwing him into the cell, she was waiting. She watched silently as he pushed himself to his feet, hitting a light in frustration. Something in the ceiling, near the doorway, drew his attention and he looked up with a confused expression.  
  
"Hi Jack."  
  
His head snapped around, surprised to see her sitting on one of the two benches that decorated the cell, serene in a cream cable-knit sweater and a soft knit skirt. Not bothered by his scrutiny, she smiled and waved.  
  
"Danielle?!" Jack blinked hard, clearly unable to believe his eyes.  
  
She nodded, looking up to watch the Jaffa walk by the doorway in the ceiling. "Well, the layout of this place is disconcerting..." She observed, brushing her skirt over her knees. "I leave and look at the mess you get yourself into..." She arched a brow. "And you said *I* attracted trouble."  
  
"You do." He muttered, automatically arguing. "Tons."  
  
She laughed. "It's good to see you, Jack."  
  
"Yeah," he agreed warily, moving about the cell to the other bench, "you too." He sat, leaning his head back against the wall. "It's a shame you're a delusion."  
  
Danielle made a face. "You know better than that. I'm here...*really* here. Just...I'm here, okay?"  
  
He smirked, folding his arms across his chest. "Sure you are." To prove his point, he leaned forward, took his shoe off, and tossed it casually at her. He was quite unsurprised when it easily passed through her, bouncing off the wall and back onto the floor.  
  
Aggravated, Danielle rubbed her forehead, looking at him from beneath her hand. "Jack...could you maybe not throw your footwear at me? Please? I thought we'd covered this last time. I am *here* in the sense that my consciousness is here but I do not have a physical body anymore. You aren't imagining this, Jack."  
  
He gave her a look. "Danielle, I just tossed my shoe *through* you. Not exactly something which implies reality, y'know?"  
  
She rolled her eyes. "I'm aware of that, Jack, I was there at the time and please, don't do it again, okay?" Sitting down, she inhaled a quick breath then continued. "Remember what I told you the last time? When I visited your dream? I've ascended to a higher plane of existence? Y'know, the whole Oma Desala, glowy thing that I couldn't have done without you?"  
  
"Ahh...yeah...that whole..."  
  
"Being energy thing." She finished with a nod. "Precisely."  
  
Tilting his head, he watched her. "How's that working out for you?"  
  
Danielle pressed her lips together briefly, shooting him another aggravated look. "Good." She admitted with a nod. "Very, uh..."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Yes, very good. But you..." She sighed. "You on the other hand..."  
  
"Yeah, well, you know what it's like," getting up with a grunt, he retrieved his shoe, gesturing with it, "comin' back from the dead, takes a while to get the color back in your cheeks."  
  
"So I hear." She agreed softly. "Jack..."  
  
He pointed the shoe at her. "So, not a delusion?"  
  
Danielle shook her head. "No."  
  
"Okay then," he gestured emphatically at her. "Show me your stuff! Bust me outta here, we'll do Vegas. Make a killing."  
  
She sighed. "You know I can't do that."  
  
"And why not?"  
  
"I'm not allowed to interfere. You know that."  
  
"You're interfering right now."  
  
"No I'm not."  
  
"Uh, yeah, you are."  
  
"Uh no, I'm not. I'm visiting a friend. Consoling him if you will." Danielle hedged.  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. "Y'know, I don't get that. What's the point of having the power to make the wind blow or toss lightning around if you can't use it to spring an old friend outta the slam?"  
  
She looked sad. "You know I would if I could."  
  
"But what? You can't do that stuff? Still a baby ascended being or something?"  
  
"I can *do* it." She glared at him, frustrated. "I just...I just can't, okay? We have rules."  
  
Clearly as frustrated as she, he got up and walked away. "Well, thanks for stopping by then. Have a good trip back to wherever it is you, Oma, and the gang hang out at."  
  
Exhaling forcefully, Danielle stood. "Look, Ba'al is torturing you and I couldn't just sit by and watch! All he wants to know is the reason you came to this planet. You really don't know?"  
  
"Do you?" He countered, turning to face him.  
  
She shook her head. "I don't. I do know that you, or more accurately, the symbiote the Tok'ra placed inside of you - congratulations on that by the way - walked off undetected in the middle of the night and came here."  
  
"I can't believe I actually let them put a snake in my head. *MY HEAD*!" Frustration radiating off him, Jack paced around the small cell, Danielle watching him move and trying to avoid getting in his way. "If I *ever* do anything that freakin' moronic again? Somebody shoot me!"  
  
Ignoring Jack's tantrum, Danielle was puzzling over the situation that had landed him as a prisoner of Ba'al. "So, it never shared with you why it would walk alone into a heavily fortified Goa'uld outpost?"  
  
"There was no sharing!" He burst out, turning to look at her, gesturing to himself. "I wasn't exactly getting chatty with it, okay?"  
  
"I know." She input quietly. "I saw."  
  
Missing the pain on her face, Jack continued to speak, laying out the events that had brought him to that moment. "They did the implantation, which is a word I fully intend never to use again ever, and...woke up here. That's my week so far. Yours?"  
  
"So you really have no idea?" Danielle pressed, regaining her composure.  
  
He sighed heavily, scratching at his head. "Uhhh...something to do with one of Ba'al's slaves. I got a visual but I've never met her before."  
  
"You have to remember Jack...You need to. If there's someone that can help you get out of here..." Danielle trailed off, looking away. Hugging her midsection, she reluctantly admitted, "You're on your own, here, Jack. No one knows where you are. Not the Tok'ra, not the SGC. No one." She felt Jack's eyes fix on her swiftly but she refused to meet his eyes. "Even if they could find out...they'd never be able to pull off a rescue. This place is a literal fortress. Ba'al made sure of that. Impregnable would be a good description..." She paused, drawing in a breath. "He's just going to keep on torturing you to death and reviving you in a sarcophagus until...until he either finds out what you know - which is impossible since you don't actually know anything - or until you're not worth reviving anymore." She finally lifted her eyes, pained gaze meeting his. "But, you'll have ceased to be the Jack O'Neill we know long before you reach that point."  
  
Jack held her gaze for a long moment before saying simply, "Guess I've got a big day ahead of me tomorrow."  
  
She shook her head fiercely. "No. I'm not going to let that happen. I won't let him destroy you. I won't."  
  
"But you just said you couldn't help..."  
  
"No. I can't stop Ba'al from torturing you anymore than Oma could heal my radiation sickness but...I can help you ascend." She smiled hopefully. "If you'll let me."  
  
Jack looked skeptical. "So...you wanna be my Oma?"  
  
"Well, you could put it that way," she agreed with a wry smile, "I wouldn't but...well...that's just me. But, yes, I can help guide you."  
  
"And then what?"  
  
"Then..." She lifted her shoulders in a brief shrug. "I don't know."  
  
"Whaddya mean...You don't know?" He leaned forward unconsciously, looking just a little surprised by her admission.  
  
"No. I don't know." Danielle shook her head, curls bouncing about her shoulders with the motion. "Ascension doesn't make you all-knowing, Jack. I don't know how it will be for you. It's different for every person. Like a fingerprint. I really don't have any idea what it would hold for you, what the process will involve. That's revealed to you as you go."  
  
"Danny, if I'm supposed to be catchin' the next plane of existence out of here, you've gotta give me something to work with." Jack pointed out with just a hint of morbid amusement. "Not exactly the most cerebral of guys, y'know?"  
  
"It's your journey. No one but you can choose what you become or the path you take to reach it. All I can do is promise you it will be the most amazing journey of your life and I'll be there for every step of it. Promise."  
  
"Oh for cryin' out loud." He muttered to himself, flopping down onto the floor and thunking his head against the wall. "You've got to be kidding me, Danielle! I'm supposed to ascend but you have no idea how I'm supposed to do that?"  
  
"You have to release your burden..." She began but he pointed at her, cutting her off.  
  
"So help me, Danielle, if you start talkin' like Oma, I'm gonna..."  
  
"I'm not talking like Oma Desala!" She argued, sitting down across from him.  
  
"Sounded like on Oma-ism to me."  
  
She grinned a little. "Nooo..see, Oma? Oma would say something like...um...let's see. Something like 'if you know the candle is fire, then the meal was cooked long ago' or something like that. *That* is an Oma-ism."  
  
"Okay, I'll bite, why exactly would she say something like that?" He asked, closing his eyes.  
  
"To open your mind." She explained casually. "So you're ready to accept the concepts involved."  
  
"Well there's your problem." Jack responded simply. "Though the wheel is spinning in my mind, the hamster's very, very dead."  
  
Danielle ran a hand over her face, trying very hard not to glare at him again. "Okay," she began patiently, "let's try this one step at a time. This has to be something you want, Jack, I can't make you do this. I can't push you into this."  
  
"The old one step at a time thing, huh?" He asked skeptically, opening his eyes again.  
  
"Yes, one step at a time." She agreed with a nod.  
  
Jack pushed himself up, leaning against the wall. "There has *got* to be another way out of here..."  
  
"Jack..."  
  
Ignoring her, he glanced up at the doorway and then at her. "How about you do a little scouting for me? Go out and take a look around. That'd be all right, wouldn't it?"  
  
"No." She shook her head. "I can't."  
  
"I'm not asking you to knock out a few walls or take out every Jaffa in the place...just a little recon. A little look about, okay?"  
  
"And then what?" She countered. "I go out there, I look and see, I can't possibly help you avoid every Jaffa in the place. You won't get ten feet before they capture you again and Ba'al will just torture you that much more."  
  
"How about a Zat? Can you maybe make one of the guards trip? Drop a Zat in here? You might be able to lift one from a weapon's locker. They have to be around here somewhere. Just one Zat. Nothing too big."  
  
"Jack," Interrupting him, she pointed out, "Whether I do anything or not, the next time will be worse. Harder. Each and every time they come, it will be worse."  
  
"So we move the next time they come. They won't be expecting me to fight back and they certainly won't be expecting me to have an invisible friend to help out. You could give me a chance."  
  
"You can't fight your way out of this one, Jack." Danielle disagreed sadly. "There's no way you can do it."  
  
"Then HELP ME!" He yelled at her, frustrated.  
  
"I can't do it that way!" She yelled back just as upset. "I can't! Believe me, Jack..." The sound of the doorway beginning to cycle open drew their respective gazes up to the doorway. "They're coming." She pointed out unnecessarily, returning her gaze to his face.  
  
"You can appear to them too, right? Make yourself visible? All you have to do is stand there, Danielle..."  
  
"I'll be back." She stood, moving away from him.  
  
"All I need is a little distraction, Danielle. Just a little distraction."  
  
"I'll be back, I promise."  
  
The door opened and Jack looked up at the Jaffa briefly then looked to Danielle.  
  
Except she wasn't there.  
  
"Danielle?"  
  
One of the Jaffa activated the cell and it began to move and shift orientation, lining up so that the doorway was now in the wall. Before Jack could react, they surged forward into the cell and grabbed him, dragging him out.  
  
-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
The mystery woman was back.  
  
Fresh from another session with Ba'al, Jack lay on the floor of the cell, looking up at the young woman looking down at him from the doorway. She seemed as confused as he.  
  
"Is that you?"  
  
Dazed, he tried to focus on her but his body refused to obey. "What?"  
  
"You shouldn't have come back." She continued as if he hadn't spoken and he began to doubt whether she was really there of it this was another of Kanan's memories, playing out for him in real time.  
  
However, that didn't stop him from answering, "I don't...remember. I can't..."  
  
"If I leave with you, he'll know." She continued.  
  
"You..."  
  
He paused, realizing there was someone else there, a belief backed up by the fact Danielle leaned over him with a confused look on her face. "Jack? Who are you talking to?"  
  
He gestured to the cell door. "The woman."  
  
She followed his gaze then looked back at him. "There's no one there."  
  
"You should be the one to talk." He groaned, trying to sit up.  
  
"Are you okay?" She asked, watching him move. "Does it still hurt?"  
  
"No." He denied. "I'm fine." He looked over at her. "What're you doing here?"  
  
"I said I'd be back." Danielle shrugged. "I came back."  
  
"To do what? Cheer from the sidelines?" He muttered. "Look, if the Danielle Jackson I knew was really here..."  
  
"Which she is." Danielle interjected patiently.  
  
"Then do something!" He snapped.  
  
She closed her eyes and dropped her head, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her forehead against her knees.  
  
Recovering, Jack rolled to his knees then stood, watching her. "You listen to me, Danielle, I *don't* want to go through that again. If you were really my friend and had the ability to do something, you'd do it!!!!!"  
  
She stayed where she was for several long moments then lifted her head and stood, meeting his gaze. "Do you think I'm enjoying this? That I *want* to stay out of this? Jack, the worst part about being who and what I've become is that I have the power to change things, that I can affect and alter the things that I want to but know full well that I can't. No matter how certain I am, no matter just how aware I am of what will happen or what won't, even when it involves people I love...I *can't*!" He wasn't hearing her, she knew that, the fact he turned away, leaning his forehead against the wall was just the added proof. "I can't play goddess, Jack. I'm no more a deity than a Goa'uld and I *can't* interfere." She reached out as if to touch him, looking intently at him for a long moment, as if willing him to understand what she was trying to tell him.  
  
Finally, she drew in a slow breath and spoke, "Ba'al will keep this up."  
  
"He will." Jack agreed without turning.  
  
"So we don't have a lot of time."  
  
"Places to go? People to not help?"  
  
"Be thankful I can't physically hit you, because you are *so* asking for it." She muttered, trying to regain her patience. She'd forgotten just how aggravating he could be when he wanted to. "Look, Jack, there has to be a reason that Kanan came back here. Maybe it's the woman. The one you've been seeing. She must be related to all of this if she's the one thing that keeps coming back to you. The question is, who is she and why was Kanan so interested in her?"  
  
Jack turned, leaning back against the wall.. "Y'know, screw it. Carter and Teal'c'll think of something. They always do.."  
  
Patiently, Danielle shook her head. "Even if they could figure out where you are..."  
  
Ignoring her, he kept talking. "..and you know, Jonas...he's at *least* as smart as you are."  
  
"Yes, he is." She agreed. "But there isn't always a way out. We've found our way out of a lot of things but..."  
  
"Who's to say that this time is any different? If that was true, I would have been dead years ago. You too for that matter." Jack argued, pointing at her.  
  
"How many times do you think you can go into that sarcophagus before it starts changing you? You remember what it did to me and that was limited exposure. How many times, Jack? How many times have you already been in? Four? Five? Do you know? It regenerates your body, yes, it makes you strong enough to take it again, yes but the entire time, it's destroying who you are. Once that happens...you won't be able to ascend no matter how much you want to!" Her emotions poured into the words and tears threatened and she turned away, fighting back the threatening onslaught.  
  
"Hey..." He reached out, to touch her, but the touch passed through her shoulder and he pulled back, unnerved. "You know I appreciate what you're trying to do, Danielle but..."  
  
"Oh no you don't!" She countered, anger banishing the tears. "Don't you dare try to take that tack with me, Jack O'Neill! You can do this. I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe with everything I have that you could do this."  
  
"Danielle. This is *me* we're talking about. Not exactly prime material for ascension!"  
  
"You're wrong!" Danielle insisted forcefully. "Jack, you keep insisting you're some sort of throwback to the neanderthal but we both know better. You're smarter than you let on and you're a hell of a lot better a man than pretend to be. You couldn't convince me otherwise before I ascended and you definitely can't now."  
  
Sitting down, frustrated, Jack looked balefully at her. "Stop it, Danielle."  
  
"No. Do you think the Asgard would name a ship after you because they thought 'O'Neill' was such a cool name? If you even try to play dumb with me this time, I swear...." Exhaling loudly in frustration, she whirled away and then glared back at him. "Don't you get it? They see it in you. The same potential Oma saw in me. Because of you, they helped us, because of who you are and what you've done. You showed them humanity's potential. Our potential."  
  
"I'm not you, Danielle." He pointed out quietly.  
  
"A fact the universe celebrates every day." She agreed dryly. "No, Jack, you're not me. But when has that ever stopped you from doing anything? Newsflash Jack, I may have made the Stargate work, but you're the one who makes the SGC work."  
  
"Put yourself in my place, Danielle." Jack argued simply.  
  
As soon as he said it, she knew where he was going but she let him. "You'd be here for me."  
  
"Damn straight I would!" He agreed. "I'd be there in a second and I'd get you out of here and I'd make damn sure that son-of-a-bitch suffered for ever laying a hand on you!"  
  
"The Others would stop you." She said regretfully, watching him stand.  
  
"They'd have a hell of a fight on their hands."  
  
"They'd win." She countered. "Besides...you wouldn't do that."  
  
"If it meant Ba'al died..."  
  
"Jack..."  
  
"And I wouldn't stop there." He insisted.  
  
"You wouldn't do that, Jack! You're a better man than that!"  
  
"No!" He yelled. "I'm NOT! That's where you're wrong, Danielle! I'm NOT!"  
  
Stalemate.  
  
They stood together, glaring at each other, for a long time then Danielle began to speak again. "If you were in my place Jack, you'd understand. I see things, I understand things now in a way I never could before. When I chose this over Jacob healing me, I actively chose this. But you? You don't have that option. You don't have a real choice. This isn't just your life, Jack. We're talking about your SOUL!" He shook his head, waving her comments off but Danielle wasn't having it. "This is your only option, Jack. This is it. I'm offering you the only way out you have left.  
  
"There is another way." He disagreed silently and she stared at him, confused and unnerved by the look in his eyes.  
  
"Jack? What are you talking about?"  
  
He stared meaningfully at her and she paled, backing away from him. "No. Don't."  
  
"Danielle." His voice deadly serious, Jack spoke in measured, deliberate tones. "They're coming for me again soon. I'm going to die again. When they put me in that sarcophagus...you can keep me from coming back."  
  
"No." She choked out, shaking her head desperately. "I won't. I can't. Don't ask me to do that, Jack, *please* don't ask me to do that. Please."  
  
"You can stop it, Danielle. Please."  
  
"No." She didn't try and hide the tears this time. "I can't. I can't kill you, Jack. I can't."  
  
The Jaffa were in the corridor, the cell was beginning to move, Jack met her gaze and held it. "I'd do it for you." He murmured before lying down on the floor, getting ready for the cell to shift up into position. "Don't let me wake up here again, Danielle. Please."  
  
As they led him from the cell, Jack looked back over his shoulder. She was gone, just as he'd expected, but the image of her tear-stained face persisted, haunting him as they dragged him down the hall.  
  
She wasn't there when he woke again, lying on the floor of his cell, but then he hadn't expected she would be. Likewise, he wasn't surprised when she didn't return by the time they came to get him for his next little chat with Ba'al. He couldn't blame her, even if he'd wanted to, every time he tried, the image of her stricken face came to mind and...he couldn't. Not even when Ba'al was in the midst of torturing him.  
  
Of course, that didn't stop him from wishing she would do as asked. Hoping she was within hearing, he couldn't help but ask, "When are you going to end this?"  
  
Assuming he was the one being addressed, Ba'al smirked. "When you tell me what I wish to know, I will end this."  
  
Jack paid him no attention, looking around, searching. "Danielle?" He knew Ba'al was still speaking but he tuned him out as Danielle walked out of nothing, a sad look on her face. "Danielle?" He repeated weakly.  
  
"Shhh..." Reaching up, she touched his face, lightly running her fingers over his brow. "I can't do it, Jack. I can't let you die. But the pain..." Stretching up, she leaned in, saying, "that I can help with..." before she kissed him slowly...and the pain was gone.  
  
-*-*-*-*-  
  
The next he knew, he was waking up on the floor of his cell. Reflexively he reached out. "Danielle?"  
  
"I'm here."  
  
"When I came back before...you were gone." Jack stared up, taking stock of everything and finding less hurt this time. How much of that had to do with the sarcophagus and how much of it had to do with Danielle's interference, he didn't know.  
  
"I'm sorry." She apologized, watching him carefully from where she sat beside him. "I had something I needed to take care of. I meant to be there before they took you again but..." She smiled. "At least I made it back in time to help with the worst of it."  
  
"Sure that wasn't against the rules?" He snarked tiredly, looking over at her.  
  
"It wasn't." She disagreed, shaking her head. "Besides, I don't think they'd argue with my reasons. But, either way, I came back and I did it and I'm not going anywhere now. Not until this is over."  
  
"It'll never be over."  
  
"It will. You just need to hang on....and trust me. Hang on, Jack. Whatever you do, just hang in a little while longer." Danielle urged fiercely, leaning over to meet his gaze.  
  
"I can't." Jack pushed himself up, leaning back against the wall, defeated. "If I go back in there, Danielle, I won't be able to hold out. I'll tell Ba'al what he wants to know."  
  
"And what is that?" She asked, curious. "Did you remember?"  
  
He nodded once. " He loved her."  
  
Danielle's eyes widened. "Kanan?"  
  
"He came back to get her. Get her out of here." Jack looked at her solemnly, watching her expression, gauging her reaction to what he was revealing. "He couldn't leave her behind."  
  
"Ba'al doesn't know..." She looked alarmed. "If..."  
  
"He finds out, he'll do to worse to her than what he's putting me though. Danielle...I don't have the strength in me to hold out. I go back in there...she's worse than dead." Jack looked morose. "We have to end it."  
  
"No, we don't. It's almost over, Jack. Believe me it is."  
  
Her words drew his attention and he looked at her, really seeing her for the first time since he'd woken. There was an almost cheerful light in her eyes. "And how is that?"  
  
She smiled ruefully. "You were right - about there being another way. At least...this a chance of a way. Your journey on this particular plane of existence isn't over, Jack, at least...not today at least."  
  
"What'd you do?" He pressed, edging closer, a grin lurking in his eyes.  
  
Danielle was the very picture of innocence. "Nothing! Sam, Teal'c and Jonas thought of something. They're working on it now."  
  
He looked suspicious, still believing she'd had a hand - however incorporeal - in it. Feeling reinvigorated, he practically jumped to his feet and paced around. "What?"  
  
A loud explosion cut off Danielle's answer. "Now's your chance. The base is being attacked by Lord Yu. The chaos...you have a chance to get out. Go."  
  
The cell began to shift and move and Jack, stumbling as it moved, tried to keep sight of Danielle but lost sight of her as the cell reached it's stopping point. When he looked to where she'd been, she was gone.  
  
Jack allowed himself a quick grin then he saw a Jaffa heading toward him and the fight was on.  
  
-*-*-*-*-  
  
The next time he saw Danielle, he was in the infirmary and the others had just left. She looked regretful as she stood at his bedside. "I always seem to be saying goodbye to you."  
  
"Bad habit you're developing." He agreed. "Better get rid of it. Stick around for a while this time. Could have some serious fun haunting the place. Seems like we could use a ghost around here. Imagine the fun we could have with Carter, Frasier and Hammond."  
  
"Smartass." She accused affectionately, sitting on the bed. "I can't stay, Jack. I wish I could but..."  
  
"You just did." He pointed out. "Stay, I mean. Why not longer?"  
  
"Mitigating circumstances." Danielle countered. "It was a special occasion."  
  
"Like what? Christmas?"  
  
"No."  
  
"How about Groundhog Day?" Jack offered casually.  
  
"Noooo..."  
  
He paused, his voice just a little more serious. "Valentine's Day?"  
  
She smiled. "If there's chocolate involved... Maybe."  
  
"I'll see what I can do in that case." He agreed with a nod.  
  
Danielle laughed, picking at the blanket. "Look...I know you don't think so, right now I mean. I know you've got your doubts but...listen, despite everything you've been through...you really are going to be fine, you know."  
  
"Apparently you know."  
  
She laughed again. "Yeah, I do. Trust me on it, okay?"  
  
"Now that, I can do." He agreed, settling back on the pillow.  
  
She smiled again, a softer smile, nodding. "Good."  
  
"What about you?" He prompted, watching her.  
  
"Me?" She lifted her eyes, looking over at him. "What about me?"  
  
"You gonna be okay?"  
  
"Yeah...I'll be okay." Danielle seemed a little misty-eyed as she shrugged. "I always seem to turn out okay. Don't worry about me."  
  
"Yeah, well, old habits, y'know?" He waved it off then began again. "Danielle...about...when you came back."  
  
"I know." She nodded. "Believe me...I know."  
  
Danielle looked as if she was going to say more but the door opened to admit Sam, carrying the glass of water Jack had asked for earlier. He was unsurprised that she didn't see Danielle as she entered, even less surprised that Danielle was gone before the tall blonde reached the bed and handed him the glass.  
  
"Here you go, sir."  
  
He nodded, "Thanks."  
  
She flashed a smile and nodded. "Goodnight."  
  
When the door closed behind her, Jack looked up toward the ceiling, smiling just a little. "Thanks, Danielle." He couldn't help entertain the notion that maybe, he heard a soft 'anytime' in response. But, of course, he would never admit to it. After all, admitting to it meant he'd have to admit he had an 'invisible friend' and well..  
  
He couldn't admit *that*.  
  
Besides, Danielle wasn't exactly invisible.  
  
Not exactly.  
  
He chuckled to himself and closed his eyes. "I'm holding you to the Valentines Day thing, Danielle." He vowed to the empty room. "Mark your calendar."  
  
Supposing, of course, ascended beings had calendars.  
  
"It's Danielle." He pointed out. "She has a calendar. Probably not like a daytime or anything but...she's got one."  
  
After all, she might have ascended but, as she was fond of pointing out, she was still Danielle. And, he well knew, Danielle Jackson was an over-organized geek.  
  
But he loved her anyway.  
  
finis 


End file.
